Jiri Kulich made twice for Buffalo Sabers in a 7-3 victory against the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday and destroyed a record night for Penguins star Sidney Crosby.
Buffalos Tage Thompson, Peyton Krebs, Tyson Kozak and Alex Tuch each had a goal and an assist. The defense Bowen Byram and Rasmus Dahlin each had two assists, and James Reimer made 23 rescues for Sabers, who have won five out of seven.
Crosby did to set an NHL record with its 20th season on average at least one point per match and broke a tie with Wayne Gretzky. Blake Lizotte and Kevin Hayes also scored for Penguins, who have dropped three in a row.
Tristan Jarry stopped eight of 12 shots for Pittsburgh before being replaced by Alex Nedeljkovic, who ended with 15 rescues.
Wild 4, Capitals 2
Frederick Gaudreau scored a couple of goals and Minnesota gave Washington a rare loss in Saint Paul, Minn.
Matt Boldy finished with a goal and an assist for nature, which snapped a two-game skid. Jon Merrill added a goal. Matt Roy and Brandon Duhaime scored a goal for Washington, who lost in regulation for just the second time in the last 12 games.
Washington’s Alex Ovechkin counted three shots on target 19:03 of the ice age but did not find the back of the net. Ovechkin remained on 889 career goals, five shy to match Wayne Gretzky’s record all the time.
Stars 5, flames 2
A quartet of stars gathered a goal and an assist to lead visiting Dallas past Calgary.
Matt Duchene, Mikael Granlund, Roope Hintz and Mikko Rantanen each counted a goal and a helper for the stars, who rides on a winning line with four games and sits four points behind Winnipeg Jets for the top site in the central division. Wyatt Johnston also scored, and Casey Desmith stopped 46 shots.
Nazem Kadri scored both goals for the flames, which had a winning line of four games. Dustin Wolf stopped 14 shots.
Flyers 6, Canadiens 4
Hours after shooting his head coach, Philadelphia received two goals per piece from Sean Couturier and Matvei Michkov in a home victory over Montreal.
With the team riding on a six-match losing line (0-5-1), the flyer separated roads with John Tortorella earlier Thursday. Brad Shaw took over behind the bench on an interim base, and the players delivered an inspired effort in their debut.
Couturier and Michkov each assisted, while Tyson Foerster and Nicolas Deslauriers also scored Philadelphia. Samuel Ersson made 26 rescues and sent Montreal to his fourth straight defeat (0-2-2). Alex Newhook, Cole Caufield, Christian Dvorak and Patrik Laine made for the Canadiens, while Jakub Dobes made 24 rescues.
Senators 4, Red Wings 3
Ottawa opened a lead with three goals and then held a furious rally of host Detroit.
Thomas Chabot, Tim Stutzle, David Perron and Michael Amadio did for the senators. Linus Ullmark made 31 rescues when Ottawa, which leads to the eastern Wild-Card Race conference, won the season series 3-1.
Lucas Raymond had a goal and an assist for the red wings. Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko also scored, while Alex Lyon and Cam Talbot combined for 28 rescues.
Lightning 8, Utah Hockey Club 0
Jake Guentzel did twice and goalkeeper Andrei Vasilevskiy Band for the league lead with his sixth suspension when Tampa Bay Walloped visits Utah.
Guentzel broke a tie with Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl with his NHL leading 16th power play in a four-goal second period, while Nikita Kucherov met the net and pulled three assists. Vasilevskiy made 25 rescues for his 40th career shutdown.
Brayden Point crushed his 300th career goal and had an assist, Oliver Bjorkstrand made twice, and Victor Hedman added one goal and two assists. Gage Goncalves also counted. Utah goalkeeper Karel Vejmelka handed four goals on 11 shots before being replaced by Jaxson Stauber, who stopped six shots.
Avalanche 4, Kings 0
Martin Necas and Logan O’Connor made 92 seconds apart in a three-goal second period and Mackenzie Blackwood turned away 22 shots when the growing Colorado beat Los Angeles in Denver.
Necas finished with two goals and one assist and Jonathan Drouin had a goal and an assist when Blackwood noted his fourth suspension of the season and third with Colorado. Cale Makar had two assists for Avalanche, who have won four in a row. Nathan MacKinnon picked up an assist to expand his home to 23 matches.
David Rittich made 22 rescues for Los Angeles, who had his winning line with four games.
Blues 3, Predators 2
Dylan Holloway made twice, including Tiebreaker with 7:41, when the visit St. Louis extended his winning line to eight matches with a victory over Nashville.
Cam Fowler made the binding target less than a minute before Holloway’s Blues winner, which overturns a 2-0 deficit. St. Louis’ Robert Thomas had two assists, and Joel Hofer made 16 rescues.
Fedor Svechkov and Brady Skjei spoke to the predators, who have dropped six out of eight (2-5-1). Juuse Saros ended with 18 rescues.
The Crake 6, Oilers 1
Jaden Schwartz scored twice when Hättle gathered five goals during the second period on his way to an exhaust of Edmonton.
Jani Nyman, Andrei Burakovsky and Jared McCann each gathered a goal and an assist while Matty Beniers added a point for the Kraken, who set a franchise record for goals for a period during a home game and snapped a three-match skid (0-2-1). Joey Daccord made 36 rescues.
Zach Hyman did for Oilers, who has lost three out of four matches. Calvin Pickard stopped 24 out of 29 shots before Olivier Rodrigue turned aside 7 of 8 shots in relief in his NHL debut.
Sharks 6, Maple Leafs 5 (SO)
Macklin Celebrini made the shooter when host San Jose overcame Toronto who did twice at the last minute of the third period to force overtime.
Tyler Toffoli counted twice in regulation and added an assist while William Eklund had a goal and an assist for the sharks, which improved to 3-2-0 in the last five. Collin Graf and Alexander Wennberg also made regulation. Timothy Liljegren added two assists, and Alexandar Georgiev made 30 rescues.
William Nylander scored twice, John Tavares had a goal and an assist and Auston Matthews and Scott Laughton also counted for Toronto, which took over the only position for first place in the Atlantic. Mitch Marner had three helpers for Maple Leafs, Matthew Knies added a couple of assists and Joseph Woll stopped 30 shots.
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